Anders Bjork is set to become the 19th Notre Dame player since 1997 to take part in the IIHF World Junior Championships.

Bjork Named to Team USA's World Junior Championship Team

Dec. 23, 2015

Team USA Roster | Team USA Schedule

By Dan Colleran

NOTRE DAME, Ind. – USA Hockey announced today (Dec. 23) that University of Notre Dame sophomore forward Anders Bjork has been included among the 22 players selected to the U.S. National Junior Team that will compete in the upcoming 2016 International Ice Hockey Federation World Junior Championship.

The 2016 International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) World Junior Championship will take place from Dec. 26 – Jan. 5 in Helsinki, Finland.

Team USA’s tournament will begin at 1:00 p.m. (ET) on Saturday, Dec. 26 against rival Canada. The NHL Network will televise each Team USA game live throughout the tournament.

Bjork, who is one of 13 forwards to make the final roster, has been taking part in Team USA’s training camp since Dec. 14 and the team is currently in Vierumaki, Finland. Training camp will conclude on Dec. 24 and the team will then travel to Helsinki.

Bjork skated in all 17 games during the first semester for the 16th-ranked Irish. He totaled five goals and 11 assists for 16 points, which is tied for the team lead. His 11 assists rank second on the team. Bjork, who has seen extensive time on both the Irish power play and penalty kill units, scored two third-period goals to seal Note Dame’s 5-1 victory over UMass (Dec. 5).

Dating back to 1997, Bjork is set to become the 19th Notre Dame player to take part in the IIHF World Junior Championships. Most recently, Thomas DiPauli and Vince Hinostroza were members of the 2014 U.S. Junior National Team that finished fifth in Malmo, Sweden.

This past summer, Bjork took part in USA Hockey’s National Junior Evaluation Camp in Lake Placid, New York (August 1-8). That camp was pared down throughout the week, but Bjork stayed for the duration of camp.

In 41 games as a freshman at Notre Dame, Bjork scored seven goals and added 15 assists for 22 points. He is a product of USA Hockey’s National Team Development Program (2012-14).

Bjork is the son of Notre Dame graduates Kirt and Patricia Bjork. Kirt was a 1983 All-American hockey player for the Irish.

Team USA’s support staff for the upcoming World Junior Championship will have a decidedly Notre Dame flavor to it as Irish coordinator of hockey operations, Nick Siergiej, is the team’s video coach. Additionally, Notre Dame equipment specialist Dave Gilbert will serve in that same role for Team USA.

— ND —

Dan Colleran, associate athletics communications director at the University of Notre Dame, has been a part of Fighting Irish Media since August 2015 and coordinates all media and publicity efforts surrounding the Notre Dame hockey and men’s golf programs. A native Walpole, Massachusetts, Colleran spent the previous three years working with the men’s hockey and soccer programs at Providence College. Prior to Providence, Colleran spent two years as an Assistant Executive Director of Communications & Championships at the Ivy League. He is a 2006 graduate of Providence College, where he also earned an MBA in 2008.